I disagre there.
If the manufacturer can´t make "decent" drivers with the TS manufacturer leave as specs, they should stop produce them.
Agree with profiguy here "A narrow spider will limit excursion and behaves much less linear than a larger one"
Feels super-logical if you think about it.
Older car´s had 60, 70, 80 (high )profile tire´s, and was wonderful to ride in, now with 35, 45 profile its not flexible any longer, and feels like go-kart....The possibility of being compliant is significantly less
I think there's a happy medium to building a good sounding, reliable pro sound driver. Of course whats good for fidelity isn't always good for durability. Factoring in the mixed use (grey area) application, leading to somewhat of a driver identity crisis. Using pro sound drivers for hi fi purposes is challenging. Sometimes you find that unicorn driver which is good at both. Its sort of like trying to do a drag race in a tank.
This Lavoce SAF184.03 I've been working with is honestly one of the best 18" pro subs I've seen from a cost standpoint. It does everything a typical 18" pro sub is supposed to, but for less money. The cone is very rigid on this thing, but not to the point of sounding too nasal or peaky. The suspension is just right in compliance - something hard to achieve on a woofer/sub of this type. The motor is very quiet and well ventilated. Not completely silent in free air but very close to it. In a ported cab under 200 hz you definitely won't hear anything but the input signal, even at close to xmax.
The best part about this 18" is the TSPs are very accurate at lower drive levels, not at 1000W with the VC boiling away - that's kind of dishonest, rather embellishing the truth. I just wish other companies would make drivers this good for reasonable amounts of money. At $300 shipped to your door (40 lbs... yikes!) I haven't seen anything better in an 18" sub.
And to the point made here before, having the driver do mechanical limiting isn't a good idea long term. It just wastes energy, beats up the suspension and increases distortion unnecessarily running close to the driver's SPL limits. Some people like that compressed sound when playing EDM or rap. I'd rather do that electronically with dynamics processing.
This Lavoce SAF184.03 I've been working with is honestly one of the best 18" pro subs I've seen from a cost standpoint. It does everything a typical 18" pro sub is supposed to, but for less money. The cone is very rigid on this thing, but not to the point of sounding too nasal or peaky. The suspension is just right in compliance - something hard to achieve on a woofer/sub of this type. The motor is very quiet and well ventilated. Not completely silent in free air but very close to it. In a ported cab under 200 hz you definitely won't hear anything but the input signal, even at close to xmax.
The best part about this 18" is the TSPs are very accurate at lower drive levels, not at 1000W with the VC boiling away - that's kind of dishonest, rather embellishing the truth. I just wish other companies would make drivers this good for reasonable amounts of money. At $300 shipped to your door (40 lbs... yikes!) I haven't seen anything better in an 18" sub.
And to the point made here before, having the driver do mechanical limiting isn't a good idea long term. It just wastes energy, beats up the suspension and increases distortion unnecessarily running close to the driver's SPL limits. Some people like that compressed sound when playing EDM or rap. I'd rather do that electronically with dynamics processing.
So far, after testing these Lavoce 18s, I've come to the general conclusion it can do hifi and PA equally well. It does this with less power than many other similar drivers I've used. At about 800W it just barely touches xmax In 160l ported tuned to 33 hz. Crossed up to 100 hz it still sounds tight and clean without the mushy lower mids that many other large drivers have crossed this high. 80 hz HP is probably the sweet spot in most situations.
Compared to any common offerings by B&C, 18sound, RCF or Beyma, the Lavoce stands out as the best value for money. This thing just delivers such clean low end in sealed, ported or 4th order bandpass boxes.
My only concern is now that the tariffs have been put into place on the import of Chinese goods, that bargain may be not so much as it used to. It still is however the best value in an all around capable low distortion, musical sounding 18" sub. I'd compare it to the JBL 2268HPL, but with smaller enclosure requirements. The JBL has the edge on lower mid distortion, but its not as capable down low.
The biggest issue with the JBL 2268 is the tall VC former which causes some resonance issues around the 250 hz range. Thats however outside of most people's needs being a large sub. Some older 3 way monitor designs will push a large driver like this higher up to a smaller cone mid crossed around 300 hz, but its very uncommon.
I've built some larger 3 ways with an extended range 18" crossed to dual 6.5s or 8s at around 300 - 350 hz. As long as the off axis output is enough to blend with mids that have similar directivity, it can sound very good. It places alot of importance on the enclosure design to minimize panel resonances and internal standing waves. Unless this is dealt with properly, the system will sound muddy, boomy and cluttered in the lower mids. Same goes for the port design, as port resonances can be difficult to mitigate. Get it right, you'll have excellent midbass as well as respectable fundamentals lows.
Compared to any common offerings by B&C, 18sound, RCF or Beyma, the Lavoce stands out as the best value for money. This thing just delivers such clean low end in sealed, ported or 4th order bandpass boxes.
My only concern is now that the tariffs have been put into place on the import of Chinese goods, that bargain may be not so much as it used to. It still is however the best value in an all around capable low distortion, musical sounding 18" sub. I'd compare it to the JBL 2268HPL, but with smaller enclosure requirements. The JBL has the edge on lower mid distortion, but its not as capable down low.
The biggest issue with the JBL 2268 is the tall VC former which causes some resonance issues around the 250 hz range. Thats however outside of most people's needs being a large sub. Some older 3 way monitor designs will push a large driver like this higher up to a smaller cone mid crossed around 300 hz, but its very uncommon.
I've built some larger 3 ways with an extended range 18" crossed to dual 6.5s or 8s at around 300 - 350 hz. As long as the off axis output is enough to blend with mids that have similar directivity, it can sound very good. It places alot of importance on the enclosure design to minimize panel resonances and internal standing waves. Unless this is dealt with properly, the system will sound muddy, boomy and cluttered in the lower mids. Same goes for the port design, as port resonances can be difficult to mitigate. Get it right, you'll have excellent midbass as well as respectable fundamentals lows.